RealGM

Hey guys, I'm originally from Chicago (if you haven't noticed from the avi and what not) and I'm actually heading out to LA for the first time so I thought what better place to find out tips than the Lakers board for obvious reasons. I'm a pretty huge Bulls/Lakers fan and when I head out there which is from May 25th-June 2nd I was hoping for the Lakers to still be around in the playoffs and I told myself that I would definitely want to watch Kobe play at least once, but unfortunately things didn't pan out in the right direction.

Anyway, I've been trying to plan this whole thing out and I already know the obvious places that I gotta visit such as the Staples Center, Hollywood, downtown LA, In and Out, and that's about all I really know. So this is why I thought I'd reach out to you guys to find out the "must haves" or the "must dos" for the first and short time I am going to be in LA.

I'm still a freshman in college and I was thinking about transferring to a university out there and possibly even live there when I'm done with school but that's a whole different story.

If you guys could give me some useful tips of what I HAVE to do and what I have to avoid doing, it would be great because I want to simply make the most out of my vacation.

Mods feel free to lock this up if it's not RealGM appropriate. I just thought I'd try to reach out to you guys. Thanks for your help everyone.

if u go back through the pages of this board, you'll find a few threads about people asking for the same info. happens about once a month, so would probably be easier to take a few minutes to go back and see what's already been recommended.

if youre a freshman in college im assuming you are under 21 so that hurts some of the places you can check out.

if youre thinking about going to school out here definitely go to westwood (where ucla's campus is), youll find some cool stuff to do there. i cant really think of anything off the top of my head, venice beach is pretty cool if youre a stoner since theres like a billion dispensaries. santa monica pier is pretty touristy but santa monica in general is a really nice city to visit. people who live there are kind of douche bags though.

check out abbot kinney street too, by venice beach.

my favorite restaurant in LA closed like a bit ago so i cant really think of must eat food.

School
Go to UCLA or USC and check out the frat parties if you want to rage.
UCLA and USC are good places to go to school. UCLA has the better area.
What are you majoring in?
Food
Downtown LA has some pretty good restaurants, but they can get pricey,
I would definitely check out Porto's bakery. Its a Cuban bakery/Restaurant. they have some great food.
There are three of them. Downey, Burbank and Glendale.
My favorite unhealthy fast food joint is a restaurant by Pico and Normandy called Dino's. The chicken and fries plate is pretty cheap. The fries are glazed in this vinegar with spices. if you go there you have to try that.
Also Westwood has good restaurants.

Places i would go visit:
-Santa Monica Pier
-Downtown LA-Staples Center, Little Tokyo (good food), China Town
-The natural history museum right by USC is pretty cool if you're into that. Also the California Science center.
-Japanese Gardens in the Burbank Area.
-Observatory in Los Feliz.
-Hollywood and Higland to see the stars sidewalk and the vist the Wax museum/Guinness world records museum/Ripleys Museum.

there's a few dino's u can go to and just like earl said, very good and very affordable.

in downtown LA i always recommended phillipe's.

Oh man I totally forgot about Dino's. That place is amazing. Pretty much in the heart of the ghetto doe

You gotta do Pink's....great hot dogs. If you want some laughs and just trip off some weird stuff, go to the Sunset Strip. And hit Roscoes Chicken N Waffles.......even the President has hit that up when he comes.

Hit up an Angels game, head down to Disneyland, ferry on over to Balboa Island, feed the seals, and go play 18 holes.

Go to roscoes like deep said. You'll usually see someone days there. And the food is pretty dang good.

I would suggest you hit up the Santa Monica pier and the beaches in the area. Plus there's shopping and restaurants within walking distance.

Obviously you would want to go to Hollywood and like the strip and Hollywood blvd but I used to live in Hollywood and IMO it's not the nicest looking city depending what part your in.

Don't go to the valley, it's pretty boring.

Lets get all the info about LA in one thread and sticky it!!

And f u dogg the valley is cool if you come here I'll rain 3s on you

the valley is the home of nba star nig young dont you dare disrespect.

One restaurant I encourage you to go to is 800 Degrees in Westwood. You will thank me later.

Doormatt wrote:Oh man I totally forgot about Dino's. That place is amazing. Pretty much in the heart of the ghetto doe

Shots fired on my old neighborhood. You're right though it's a **** hole

Imadogg wrote:Lets get all the info about LA in one thread and sticky it!!

And f u dogg the valley is cool if you come here I'll rain 3s on you

Valley has a bunch of persians and Imma's.

Also the world capital of porn.

By this deduction Imma is a pornstar

EArl wrote:School
Go to UCLA or USC and check out the frat parties if you want to rage.
UCLA and USC are good places to go to school. UCLA has the better area.
What are you majoring in?
Food
Downtown LA has some pretty good restaurants, but they can get pricey,
I would definitely check out Porto's bakery. Its a Cuban bakery/Restaurant. they have some great food.
There are three of them. Downey, Burbank and Glendale.
My favorite unhealthy fast food joint is a restaurant by Pico and Normandy called Dino's. The chicken and fries plate is pretty cheap. The fries are glazed in this vinegar with spices. if you go there you have to try that.
Also Westwood has good restaurants.

Places i would go visit:
-Santa Monica Pier
-Downtown LA-Staples Center, Little Tokyo (good food), China Town
-The natural history museum right by USC is pretty cool if you're into that. Also the California Science center.
-Japanese Gardens in the Burbank Area.
-Observatory in Los Feliz.
-Hollywood and Higland to see the stars sidewalk and the vist the Wax museum/Guinness world records museum/Ripleys Museum.

Definitely thinking about heading out to Little Tokyo cause I'm a huge fan of Japanese food thanks for the heads up and my friend told me to go and check out Manhattan Beach so I'll see if I can do that as well.

It's weird cause on the list of schools for the USC transfer guide has the college I'm currently attending in Illinois and I think it's the only college from Illinois thats on that list. I plan on studying either Kinesiology (Physical Therapy and all that good stuff) or majoring in Theater

DEEP3CL wrote:You gotta do Pink's....great hot dogs. If you want some laughs and just trip off some weird stuff, go to the Sunset Strip. And hit Roscoes Chicken N Waffles.......even the President has hit that up when he comes.

Haha I don't know how I forgot about Roscoes man.

AI wrote:One restaurant I encourage you to go to is 800 Degrees in Westwood. You will thank me later.

Did a quick search on it and I saw what the pizza looked like and I think I saw a segment covered on TV on either the Travel Channel or Food Network I forgot which one. I'll see if I can hit up that place as well it looks awesome

pizza? go to village pizzeria

Go to the beach and hang out for a couple of hours
I'd go to Malibu and eat at Glatstone's